Glad you guys made it. Good weather didn't keep you out. All right, back to Psalm 23 again. We're taking our time with this and coming at it from a new perspective. If you weren't here last week, we began looking at Psalm 23 from more of a application or pastoral application of Psalm 23. but we also notice that it's not just for a pastor but in any type of leadership or leading people and so it's going to be applicable to all of us and I want to make sure that we're getting that. The best way to be a good pastor or a good leader is to learn from the greatest shepherd of all. Now I am a sheep too just just like you are unto the Lord and I As a sheep, I learned about the shepherd, and that helps me to be a better shepherd. And that's how that works for a pastor, is I can draw closer to the Lord, learn more about him. As a shepherd, I learned how to be a shepherd. We learn how to lead others by how the Lord leads us. I learned a lot about raising kids by how I knew God related to me as my father. So we learn how to be fathers by learning more about our Heavenly Father. I want to keep thinking about Psalm 23 just so as to help, one, myself to become a better pastor and hopefully help strengthen and better the relationship I have with the church that I'm supposed to lead. But let's read one verse tonight. I know we're familiar with Psalm 23, but let's read verse 2. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me. beside the still waters. Let's pray. Father, help us tonight as we come to your word and as we just seek to get a respite from the world and to come, Lord, into your table tonight. This is your green pasture that you have given to us, a time of rest where we can sit at your feet and commune with you and worship you. And we thank you for this evening an opportunity to do so. Help me in this lesson, Lord, that it would be a blessing and an encouragement to your people. Help me, Father, to be a better pastor, Lord, into your church here under the flock of God that you have placed me to be an elder and overseer. And I pray for your help, Lord, that I would do my diligence and that I would Lord, be faithful in the word and be faithful in ministry and in reaching to your people and ministering to them. Father, we ask that you would just bless us now as we look into your word now and speak to our hearts and help us, Lord, to learn better how to lead people, all the people around us that you've given us influence over. In Jesus' name and amen. I want us to understand better how to effectively lead people around us. And so it's not just about me and you as a church, but so there's application here for all of us. My responsibility as a pastor or shepherd is to lead you in such a way that your relationship with Christ, when that counsel, when the preaching of the word is followed, when your relationship with Christ is better because you're learning more about him. That's ultimately, if you could sum up my responsibility as a pastor, that would be it. To lead you in such a way to where when what is preached and taught leads you closer to the great shepherd. And should that not also be, though, the goal that we have in all of our relationships in life? I mean, every relationship in life you have, no matter what that relationship is, God has put you in that relationship, and you should have some thought about, how can I be used to the Lord to better this person's relationship with the Lord? How can I be used of God if they're a Christian to lead them closer to the Lord as their shepherd, to teach them about their shepherd? If they're a lost person, Lord, give me the right words so that they can know you as the shepherd. And so it really should be something that all of us think about. Now, my ultimate goal as a pastor, as said, is to lead you to follow Jesus. And so I hope that we'll take these applications and help our relationship, if you would, between pastor and church, but also may we also learn how to lead others to follow Jesus. Now, the next thing I want to think about in this lesson regarding our great shepherd that from where we start off with from last week is verse one, but now I want to look at verse two that we just read. And I want to focus on this to the most part of this lesson is that he is a leading shepherd. He is a leading shepherd. He is seen here as making us to lie down or leading us to lie down in green pastures. He has said here to lead us beside the still waters. In verse 3, he leads me in the paths of righteousness. Just think about that for a moment. This is the Almighty God. I love the picture. I love the visual we get of our God, of our relationship to the sovereign shepherd. He has all power, all authority. He can speak and it can be done, yet In his relationship to his people, he pictures himself here as a shepherd. God could just speak and we could just be like robots and he could just force us to do every little thing he wanted us to do. But he's a shepherd who leads us to do his will. The pastor, likewise, he must seek to be one who leads the sheep. and not to drive the sheep. Those are two different things. To lead, you must go before the sheep, meaning you must be the example. You don't just stand aloof off and proclaim the way to walk. And just tell the sheep which way to walk. A sheep walk over there. A shepherd doesn't do that. A shepherd doesn't just tell the sheep, OK, you all move over there. You all move over there. And he just stands still. No, he leads them. He goes before them. A shepherd must be close enough for them to see him. And they must be close enough for them to hear him. Two very important things. They need to be able to see the shepherd. They need to be able to hear the shepherd. I fear that oftentimes in many churches, and it doesn't have to just be a megachurch because churches could not be megachurches and still have this problem, but in many churches, especially megachurches I think, the relationship can be lost between pastor and church. And that's very detrimental because God has set this thing up the way He has for a reason. The members of the body are sometimes not even allowed to approach the pastor. Sometimes he's seen as more of a celebrity that is protected from the people that he is supposed to be ministering to. There's something wrong with that when you look at the life of Jesus, the life of Paul. To lead, there must be relationship that is built upon personal trust. The pastor needs to lead the people by example and not push the people from behind or just stand afar off barking or commanding. Now cattle are different. Cattle are typically driven from behind. That's how you get a cow to go where you want it to go. You don't lead them. They don't follow a shepherd. Sheep are led from the front. ways of getting animals to go in a certain direction. Jesus goes before us and sets the example that we are to follow. And as we get closer to him in relationship, we are drawn to him. And we likewise need to set that kind of leadership and example to others. It is the relationship between the shepherd and sheep that moves the sheep forward. while it is noise and pressure from behind that moves the cattle forward. I'm sure none of us here have ever been involved in a cattle drive, right? But we've seen movies, right? And that's what they do. There's not one guy out there leading cattle, you know, in the front. No, there are people behind, surrounding, making noise, you know, making noise and pushing, driving them. Those are two different ways of getting people to move forward. And so a good question, I think, to ask ourselves is how are we trying to get people to follow Jesus? You can lead people or you can drive them. Now, sometimes driving them, you can't get what you want. But is that all we want is to get what we want? I want people's hearts to be engaged in their service to the Lord. I don't want to just move the church in a certain direction because you're just commanding and a dictatorship and making people do what they're supposed to be doing. Folks, that's not hearts engaged with the Lord. That's just doing it because the pastor's pushy. That's not good. Are we leading? By having a relationship with them, are we setting a good examples of what it means to follow Jesus? Or are we just trying to force people by making a bunch of noise? Yelling at them, or maybe not yelling at them, but pushing them with the way we talk to them in the direction that we want them to go, like you would drive cattle. When you lead and people follow, then people are willingly going in that direction. And that's what we should want. We should want people to want it. There comes a time, you know, in raising children, I mean, it's kind of like driving cattle at the beginning. You're forcing them, you're making them do what they need to do. And then you hope eventually there comes a point in time where it comes more of a leadership and now they're not just doing it because you've been making them do it for some time, but now it becomes more of they're leading, they're following willingly. If you're starting to push your kids, you know, to do the right thing for years and years until they leave the house, chances are they're not going to go that direction. When you push people, They may go in the right direction for a season and some people may be in parts of churches that kind of have that leadership style or just continually pushing the people go that direction. But what happens is when that person is gone, people don't go that direction anymore. And so because they're not necessarily going out of willingness. And so there's a difference between leading and driving, but there's also a difference between leading and ruling. I want to mention that just for a moment. I was looking up some differences between leading and ruling and looking at the words and stuff. But we might say a leader is an individual who may inspire, motivate, guide others toward a shared vision or goal. A leader tends to prioritize the well-being and growth of their followers, fostering a sense of unity and collaboration. Rulers, on the other hand, are individuals who exercise authority and control over a group or territory. Folks, I don't have control. Rulers are often on maintaining order, stability, and obedience, making decisions based on their own interests and their own personal agendas. In the leader's approach to power, the leader will acquire power through influence and persuasion, while a ruler exercises power through control and authority. Leaders inspire others to follow them willingly, whereas rulers command obedience through their position. In some cases, a pastor may exercise his authority, but usually when he is purposely exercising his authority, it's not a good situation. It's kind of like whenever your kids are little and they're not minding, why do I have to do that? And you say, I'm the dad, that's why, or I'm the mom, that's why. I mean, it's not a good scenario usually. There's some rebellion involved there. And likewise, if the pastor has to stand up there and say, look, listen, I'm the pastor, we need to do it this way. If that comes out of my mouth, it's not a good situation. Would there ever be a time where a pastor would need to assert some kind of authority like that? It's possible, but let me tell you what, it's not good. It's not good. Do you understand the difference? In thinking about leading and not ruling, we may equate leading with being weaker sometimes. And I think that's what a lot of people think of when they think of sometimes invasive versa of leading versus ruling. And maybe a ruler is someone stronger. Yet, the greatest shepherd of all, the greatest leader of all, is the Almighty. So, leadership style versus rulership style is great. I love this passage in Isaiah 40. Turn there if you would. It just gives two pictures of our God that are just so wonderful, the way it blends them together. Start with verse 9. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with His arms and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those who are with young. Don't you just love that picture there of the Lord? He's the shepherd with a mighty arm but gently leads those that are with young. And then it goes on to talk more about how great God is, who has measured The waters in the hollow of his hand measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket. You ever wonder where that saying come from? There it is. And are counted as a small dust on the scales. Look, he lists up the isles, the islands as a very little thing. I just love the picture of God being the Almighty God. Behold your God. Look how big he is. At the same time, in relationship to his people, he likens himself in the midst of all of that as the shepherd who feeds his flock, who picks him up and carries him. and gently leads those who are the young. That should give us a great comfort. When you think about how mighty God is, and yet he takes us up in his arms and gently leads. That gives you some comfort. Isn't that what happens to little kids, you know, when they're scared? I mean, who do they want to run to? They want to run to their daddies, right? They want to run to their mommies. Oh, they're stronger than them. Some men or people like to show strength by driving people to do what they want. Those with real leadership that comes from themselves following the great shepherd will be strong and can at the same time lead gently. Now the next thing I want to think about in this in Psalms 23 is that he's a discerning shepherd, a discerning shepherd. Notice how the shepherd here says he makes me to lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside the still waters. I'm not going to think about the green pastures or the still waters at this time. We'll do that, Lord willing, next time. But what I want to draw from that is that the shepherd knows when it's time for the sheep to lie down in green pastures and he knows when it's time to walk along the still waters. Because there's a picture here of them lying down in the green pastures and another picture of him being led along, walking along the still waters. He knows when they need fed and he knows when they need to walk. I love the care of our good shepherd that he gave to Elijah. Do you remember that? After Elijah had the great victory on Mount Carmel and all that took place there, he gets scared at the threats of Jezebel and he runs for his life. Now later the Lord will rebuke him for that and eventually will say to Elijah, what are you doing here? He will say that. But before that, before he gets his attention like that, you read there in 1 Kings 19 verse 5 through 7 says, then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. Then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coal. I bet that was good. You know what? That's a good cake. I mean, if God made that cake, if an angel made that cake, that's angel food cake. That's where it comes from. We have it. Angel food cake. I just thought of that. That's an angel and he baked a cake. All right. So angel food cake is good for you. He baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. And the journey that he was going was the wrong direction. But the Lord strengthens him, feeds him. You know why? Because it wasn't time yet to address him in a way that was going to really rebuke him. That's the wise shepherd. He knows his sheep. He knows when to feed them. He knows when to rebuke them. He knows what they need. He knows when they need to lay down. He knows when they need to walk. God cared about Elijah. as he would rebuke him later, but it was not the right time. Elijah, at the moment, needed fed and cared for first before God addressed him in a little bit more of a stern way. It makes me think of the gentle care of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Mark chapter 6 and verse 30 to 32, the disciples had just been out doing a lot of mission work, and it says, Then the apostles gathered Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And he said to them, Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, Many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. Hey guys, you all been working hard. You haven't had time to eat. Listen, let's just take a break. I love that visual of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the good shepherd. You see a good leader. Whether it be a pastor or you're trying to lead people, it needs discernment to know when to allow people to rest, when it's time to rest, and when it's time to get busy. Parents need that. I mean, if you're forcing your kids to just work all the time, they're awake, you're going to have trouble. If there's a time to rest, there's a time to work. And the pastor needs discernment to know when to feed what to the people, when they need milk and when they need meat. He needs that discernment. Paul told the church at Corinth, he said, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid meat, for until now you were not able to receive it. And even now you are still not able. And so he just knew they weren't ready to hear some things. And sometimes people don't. Some people aren't ready to hear things. There's been many times where I've not preached on certain things simply because I know there's a few people that aren't ready to hear that quite yet. And some people, on the other hand, cared not to have any discernment about this. They just say all they believe to anybody, anytime, not really caring about how it's received, whether it's good timing or not, whether it will presently help the other people or not. That's not a good shepherd. A pastor needs to know the state of the flock, and he needs to know when, where, and how to feed them. And so pray that I would be a discerning shepherd, that I would know when to promote rest, when to encourage us to rise and walk, to rise and to work. There's a time for rest and there's a time for work. And pray that I would know what to feed the flock and when to feed it. Now for all of us in all this lesson, pray and ask the Lord to help you to see if you are seeking to lead people or drive people. What kind of relationship do you have with people? Is it one where you're pushing people or you're leading them? and ask him to help you to be more of a leader in that relationship. Secondly, ask for discernment regarding what truth to share and when to share it with people. We must learn to lead people unto the truth so that they may willingly eat it. We cannot drive people to the truth and force it down their throats. Leadership will require building relationships, compassion, patience, and care for others. When you do that, when you do that, they will listen to the truth much better. I'm so glad that we have a great and gentle shepherd, and he sets the greatest example for me and for all of us. and how to lead other people unto green pastures and into still waters so that they can rest in the shepherd. May we seek to be his tool to help others as he has led us. Father, use this lesson tonight, Lord, and help us in our relationships Lord, to lead others closer to you. Help us, Father, to be discerning, Lord, of the truth and of people and have a good perception of what they're ready to hear and when. I know we don't know all of that, and we're not all knowing like you are, Lord, but at least help us to show some discernment and desire some discernment of those situations and help us to lead people closer in their walk with you. We love you, Lord. Help me, Father, I pray, to be a better pastor to your people here at New Testament. In Jesus' name, amen.